DDTC to Publish New Part 130 Decision Tool, Other Tech Improvements, Official Says

The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls is working on a range of technology improvements for its website and applications, including a new Part 130 decision tool and a voluntary disclosure application, said Frances Moore, DDTC’s deputy chief information officer. The agency also is working to revamp its website and is coordinating with the Bureau of Industry and Security on a new system to more efficiently share data.

Moore, speaking during a virtual conference last week hosted by OCR, a trade compliance firm, said DDTC soon will release a “new and improved decision tool” for Part 130 of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, which deals with political contributions, fees and commissions relating to sales of defense articles and defense services. Moore said the current tool is “very, very dated” and “needed some upgrading.”

The agency last year saw an uptick in issues related to recordkeeping and Part 130 violations and has made an effort to increase engagement with industry to understand whether its regulations are clear enough to help companies avoid Part 130 violations (see 2109290056). DDTC’s website said it expects the new decision tool to be published this month, along with new tools for “Order of Review” and “Specially Designed.” “We're looking to release a new version of that,” Moore said, “of course, an improved version of that.”

Moore also said she’s working closely with DDTC’s compliance office on its voluntary disclosure process. She said a voluntary disclosure “application” will be implemented in the Defense Export Control and Compliance System “portfolio here soon.”

“We’re moving through our backlog of DECCS enhancements for all applications,” she said, adding that the agency will also “refresh” its website. “We received a lot of feedback from our DECCS user group.”

Another initiative will improve data sharing between DDTC and BIS. Moore said the agencies are working through Snowflake, a cloud data sharing platform, which will allow DDTC to “share specified data tables with multiple entities and agencies.”

“This would alleviate the need for our manual transfers,” Moore said, which is the agency’s current model “that we use with BIS right now to share data. So this is going to be an upgrade. It's going to be great once we get that implemented.”